Wufei is my least favorite out of the four main pilots of Gundam Wing. My list is as follows:

Trowa Barton
Heero Yuy
Quatre Winner
Duo Maxwell
Wufei Chang

Yes. I'm not the type that likes Duo. He gets on my nerves a little, being as loud as he is. Though I do think he'd be great with kids. Hence his role in this story, and the fact he has, like, five children. As far as my reason behind this story, it would have to be that, despite the fact that Wufei isn't my favorite character nor do I like him to an obscene amount, I do think he's a wonderful character to write about. This takes parts from his past, the stuff in Episode Zero, so if none of you know about Meiran, you might as well turn back now.

I figure it's about time for him to move on. That's what this fic is about. I hope you all enjoy this. I tried my best at getting his character right. Most of the time I have him as the comedy relief, being the straight man to Duo's bubbly antics and usually being a complete prick about it. Hopefully I'll give him more of a heart in this. Like he has in the show, as hard as it is to see.

This is the first Gundam Wing fic I feel obligated to post. All the others are comedy, and are really, really old when I still had no skills in writing. This one I felt the urge to write because lately I've been obsessed with the pairing ShikaTen, from Naruto. And...er...it reminds me of Wufei and his habit of viewing women as a hassle.

I doubt I'll be posting any of those--the comedy ones from way back in my freshman year of high school. At least, not until I clean them up considerably.

Closure
Chapter 1

"Wufei, you're turning forty in three days…"

The aforementioned Chang-member looked back at the much taller, much more dominating–conversation-wise, he managed to tell himself–woman walking by his side. He stared at her a moment, watching how her cheeks went slightly pink and how she messed with one of those annoying pigtails she still made sure were curled into what looked like tightly-wound intestines on the side of her head. He shrugged.

"What of it, Sally?"

She looked back at him, avoiding his eyes for a moment, before she finally stopped, grabbing his arm and turning him to face her. "Wufei, haven't you ever given a thought to marriage?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, swatting her hand away from his arm tiredly. "…Is there a reason you're bringing this up?"

She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on one leg. "You're avoiding the question. I mean…you're forty…half of the people you know have gotten married by now. Hell, even Trowa managed to find a woman to marry, despite the fact that he's always traveling around and despite the fact that he rarely speaks! Surely you have some sort of interest by now! You're letting life pass you by! You're missing out on so much!!"

He gave her a bored look, groaning a little and putting a hand to his forehead. He reached his arms behind his head and grabbed the small ponytail of hair, separating it into two parts and tightening it. When that was done, he pointed his finger at her. "I'm missing out on pointless squabbles over absolutely nothing. I'm missing out on brats that don't even appreciate the life they've been given or the contributions made by those who came before them. I'm missing out on joint credit card accounts and bank loans going horribly wrong over teenagers wrecking the car, joining of insurance, the hassle of wedding planning and the threat of divorce around every corner." He started walking again, his voice turning sarcastic. "I'm missing out on women who don't know when to leave well enough alone. I'm really missing out on something wonderful, Sally."

She started after him, her anger rising. "Don't take that sarcastic tone with me, Wufei. I'm really wondering why you haven't even tried getting involved with me. I know you're interested, damn it! Shortly after the war we shared a somewhat intimate moment, we're always doing things together, and as far as I know, I'm the only woman who has stepped foot in your apartment!"

He whirled around, closing his eyes like he was starting to get a headache. "Will you just leave well enough alone, Sally?? You're giving me a headache!"

She laughed, reaching over and yanking the hair tie from his hair, dangling it in front of his face. "Maybe it's the fact that you tie your hair back too tight. Ever think of that? I'm sure you wouldn't have started getting a receding hairline so quickly if you let your hair down more often."

He glared, tearing it out of her hands and turning on his heels. "This is the end of this conversation! I have to go meet Maxwell down at the bar."

She smiled after him, touching her fingers to her cheek. "Perhaps I should come with you this time… You might need some company after the alcohol sets in…"

He just gave her the finger, his back still toward her as he dwindled off into the distance, the streetlights barely illuminating his vanishing figure. She sighed as one of the streetlights closer to her began to flicker, finally dying and enveloping her in the gloom of dusk. She took one look up at the sky and smiled to herself.

"There goes a man who hasn't changed a bit since the war ended…" She sighed. "Too bad… I'll have to try harder next time."

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He took his spot at the bar, next to the braided wonder, taking a giant swig of beer and hoping with all of his might to forget that conversation with Sally. What did that woman know, anyway? She acted as if she knew everything that went on in his head. An intimate moment after the war? Ha! All that was was a small smile and it was right back to work with the Preventers! Hardly an "intimate moment" in his book.

Duo looked over at him, chuckling and circling the mug of his beer. "So, as I was saying back at the office, my little girl looks up at me after hitting the pole and apologizes sincerely. When I tell her that it's alright and that she's not in any trouble or anything, that she's still learning and she has room for mistakes, she looks at me like I'm crazy. She gets into this big-ass long rant about how I should be treating her more harshly because I was a Gundam pilot, and driving a car must've been a cake-walk back when I was her age!" He laughed heartily, taking the final drink from his beer, his cheeks a nice rosy colour.

"I told her I wasn't Yuy and that I could care less if she was shit at driving. You know what she told me, Wufei?"

Wufei shrugged, glaring at his mug and trying not to really care about anything he'd said. "I don't know, Maxwell… I suppose…she asked you who Yuy was and why he was so similar to the great politician Heero Yuy way back when we were still growing up?"

Duo laughed. "She started to yell at me for saying her driving was shit! She kept saying if I was kinder to her she'd probably have an easier time at it! Can you believe that?? It's as if she wants there to be trouble at home with her parents!" He sighed, wiping a tear from his eyes. "Ah man…kids these days… I'm just glad her brothers aren't getting so emotional yet… Of course, they will, because the eldest did the same thing when she was Hannah's age, but she's calmed down now that she's gotten her own apartment. But, teenagers all act the same, I suppose. I mean, sure I was this big-shot Gundam pilot who should've been taking about as many crazy pills as Lady Une back in the day, but I suppose I still did the same things… Know what I'm saying, Wufei?"

Wufei's eyes widened in mock agreement. "Oh, I know exactly what you're saying… Kids are pretty crazy these days…"

Duo nudged him playfully, a wicked grin on his face. "Oh, what would you know about kids, Wufei? I'll bet you still haven't been with a woman yet!" He chuckled. "Poor Wufei. Still can't get it up, eh, buddy??"

Wufei shot him a glare that could melt the lowest level of hell and downed the rest of his beer. "If I was interested in women, which I could care shit about because they're all a bunch of emotionally-wrecked, shrieking harpies, I would get it up so easily, Maxwell. You have no idea how I'd act in bed and I'm sure you hope you never get the pleasure of finding out."

Duo absorbed all of that information before his face collapsed and he started laughing again. He smacked Wufei as hard as he could on the back. "And I'm sure you don't even know how you'd act in bed, Wu-man!"

Wufei's cheeks flushed and a sick feeling started rising in his stomach. "Do not call me that, Maxwell. What was our agreement? I'd stop picking fights with you over the simplest tasks you can't complete for whatever reason, if you stopped calling me that. You agreed to that, right? Unless you want me to knock you out cold right here and right now, I suggest you sober up and think about what you're saying."

The brunette just snickered, raising his hand and ordering another beer. He looked over, tossing his hand at Wufei playfully. "Whatever you say, Fei-Fei."

The shorter man stood, black eyes blazing with hatred and indignation. The second the beer reached the counter before the chestnut-haired ex-pilot, he grabbed it, throwing the contents of the mug right into that giggly bastard's face. "You've reached your limit, Maxwell! Better call the wife to come by and take you home!"

As he stormed out of the bar, he heard Duo yell drunkenly, "At least I have someone to go home to, Fei-Fei!! Anything's better than those books and those enthralling games of chess you can never win against Trowa!!" There was a soft thud of him tumbling to the ground, his legs giving out beneath him. "Maybe you should just out yourself like Quatre did years ago and find yourself a man!! …Yes, Manny, please call Hilde and tell her I had too much to drink again… If she starts yelling at you again, just remind her it's all my fault."

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The lights were off in his apartment when he slammed the door open and stormed in slamming it shut. That's the way he left them this morning, and that's the way he left them now. Usually he left them off until he needed to read, even when it was pitch black like it was now. That wasn't a problem–he pretty much knew exactly where he was going.

What he didn't expect was that, in his rage, he'd forgotten he'd dropped a magazine on the floor in his rush to get to work on time and had told himself he'd pick it up when he got home later that evening. The second his foot hit it, it slid against the carpet beneath his feet and he went slipping backwards, right onto the back of his head.

There was a sharp pain in the back of his head, like it had just been blown away, and he actually gasped out loud of the sheer pain of it. He winced a little, taking some time to catch his breath and get his bearings straight before he felt like his brains were not leaking, as irrational as that sounded for his normally logical outlook, and stood.

He hopped to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and bending down again as a wave of pain rolled over his brain from getting up too fast. As he was down, he made sure to grab that damn magazine and slam it onto the table to his right.

"God damn, that magazine nearly killed me!"

He reached over to his left and flipped on the lights, looking over to the table to see just what had nearly killed him…to get an idea of his new mortal enemy. His eyes widened at the sight of "Parenting Monthly" sitting there all nice and neat, the image of a gorgeous woman there– (He was pretty sure she had never been pregnant before: all women wound up sagging in all the wrong places and getting twice as bitchy after childbirth, after all.) –and the blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby girl running toward the camera lens, her "mother" reaching out to her. He took a closer look at it, realizing the name of the subscriber was "Duo Maxwell". His eyes narrowed.

He knew that energetic bastard would be the death of him eventually. What a lousy prank to pull.

Anger welled up in him, and he slammed his fist into the table, breaking it in half and causing everything to go falling into the giant crack down the center. "Why the fuck would I want to sleep with a stupid woman and spawn an army of demon babies!?"

He was pissed. He wasn't just pissed, of course. He was furious. He was beyond pissed and furious and enraged and murder-death-kill-worthy. He was berserk.

It was because he had to walk home in the dark after yet another fight with a drunken Maxwell ended in a splash in the face and the sounds of him hitting the floor in surprise. It was because Maxwell had to go and be a douche bag, nearly getting him killed with a prank. It was because the bastard even had the gall to call him out on his less-than-exciting existence and berate him for it when he found his choice in life far more unpleasant. It was because he never won a game of chess against that fucking genius, Trowa "The Circus Clown", a.k.a. "Mr. Silence", a.k.a. "Doesn't Flinch At Flying Projectiles" Barton no matter how hard he tried or how much it wore him out just trying to think of a way to beat that man. It was because even after he'd read book after book after book on all of the possible ways to beat someone at that blasted game, he still managed to overlook the one that would help him win. It was because Trowa was barely ever free or in the area to play with him. It was because Heero had gotten Relena after all of the years he'd been following her around, protecting her in the shadows. It was because now he shadowed her in front of cameras, always by her side and waiting to protect her if the need arise. It was because he'd read almost every book on almost every best-seller list, gone through at least fourteen plants to take care of, taken on countless amounts of work hours just to get everyone off his back and out of his hair, and yet he still found something missing. It was because his home was pitch black every time he got home. It was because he had nothing to come home to but a common house plant he tended to and a shrine to his dead wife propped up on his bedside table that he lit incense for every night before he went to bed.

It was because, even after he'd managed to kill that shithead Treize and get revenge for everything he'd ever done to him–the death of his wife included–, that barrenly empty feeling hadn't left, and he still felt like he was missing something important in his life, something he'd lost along the way and would never get back.

It was because that bitch, Nataku…Meiran, was too busy screaming about how strong she was and how he wasn't dedicated enough to his training to ever, ever, ever accept him as her husband before she died.

Yeah, he never wanted to get married.

At least, not again.